That merchant was using a system that goes back even further than 1802 if you dig into it. Benjamin Franklin famously kept a little grid in his journal to track thirteen virtues, and he was doing that in the 1700s, so the box-in-the-margin habit clearly is not new at all. What Carroll did was package an old human habit into something with a name and a set of rules people could follow step by step. The funny part is that people have been marking squares in ledgers for centuries because it just works for the brain, not because someone invented it recently. Your archive find is basically proof that the "system" is way older than the bullet journal brand, and the coincidence is probably less wild than you think.

Wait, only a million people? That means like 11 million folks were watching someone eat bugs or whatever instead of Stringer Bell. Do you really wanna be the guy begging his brother to join the smallest club in America? Just tell him season 2 is the price of admission and move on.